Sri Lanka has named its Test squad for the two-match series against Australia — and one man the tourists are sure to be doing their homework on is the home side’s No.5.
Kamindu Mendis suffered split webbing when going for a catch during a first-class game last week, but the gun batter has been named in an 18-man squad for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy series beginning on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan cricket has yearned for a prolific Test batter since the retirements of the legendary Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the mid-2010s, and in Mendis the cricket-mad nation may have unearthed a gem.
And of the six men who posted 1000 Test runs in 2024 — Joe Root, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Mendis and Kane Williamson — Mendis’ average of 74.92 was comfortably the highest.
He is a left-hander who scores heavily square of the wicket.
In the only Test innings he’s played against Australia, he peeled off 61 runs in Galle in 2022, in a match in which the tourists won by an innings and 39 runs.
Remarkably, Mendis can also bowl both left-arm orthodox and right-arm off spin, making him one of the few ambidextrous bowlers in world cricket.
Sri Lanka is captained by Dhananjaya de Silva, who bats at No.6 and bowls off spin.
Both matches will be played at the spin-friendly Galle.